The Syracuse–UConn rivalry was a sports rivalry between the

Syracuse Orange The Syracuse Orange are the college athletics in the United States, athletic teams that represent Syracuse University. The school is a member of NCAA Division I and the Atlantic Coast Conference. Until 2013, Syracuse was a member of the Big East ...

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...

and the

UConn Huskies The UConn Huskies (or Connecticut Huskies) are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Connecticut, with its main campus located in Storrs, Connecticut. The school is a member of ...

of the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university system with its main campus in Storrs, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1881 as the Storrs Agricultural School, named after two benefactors. In 1893, ...

. The rivalry started in men's basketball while both schools were members of the Big East conference, and is slowly grew across other sports.

Men's basketball

History

The first game played between the two schools took place on January 27, 1956, in

Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States. With a population of 148,620 and a Syracuse metropolitan area, metropolitan area of 662,057, it is the fifth-most populated city and 13 ...

Syracuse Syracuse most commonly refers to: * Syracuse, Sicily, Italy; in the province of Syracuse * Syracuse, New York, USA; in the Syracuse metropolitan area Syracuse may also refer to: Places * Syracuse railway station (disambiguation) Italy * Provi ...

won 102–82. The rivalry peaked while both teams were members of the

Big East Conference The Big East Conference (stylized as BIG EAST) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that competes in National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA NCAA Division I, Division I in 10 men's sports and 12 women's sports. H ...

from 1979 to 2013. The rivalry featured two Hall of Fame coaches,

Jim Boeheim James Arthur Boeheim Jr. ( ; born November 17, 1944) is an American former college basketball coach and current Special Assistant to the Athletic Director at Syracuse University. From 1976 until 2023, he was the head coach of the Syracuse Orange ...

and

Jim Calhoun James A. Calhoun (born May 10, 1942) is an American former college basketball coach. He is best known for his tenure as head coach of the University of Connecticut (UConn) men's basketball team. His teams won three NCAA national championships ( ...

2009 Big East Tournament

One of the highlights was the historic Big East Tournament quarterfinal game in 2009. The game took place at Madison Square Garden in New York City where Syracuse won 127-117 in a game that went to six overtimes, ending at 1:22 AM.

Post Big East

In November 2015, after the teams met in the Bahamas, both Kevin Ollie and

expressed interest in renewing the rivalry. Boeheim said, "It was like an NCAA game early in the year, It's a tremendous atmosphere. A tremendous game. It really was. I think there's a reasonable likelihood that we will play Connecticut again someday soon." Ollie said, "It's something that we're definitely looking at, It would be a great thing. It's a great rivalry." UConn and Syracuse met at the Jimmy V Classic on December 5, 2017 with Syracuse winning 72–63. A year later the teams would meet in the Empire Classic, with UConn winning 83–76. Currently there are no games scheduled between the two schools.

Results

Football

2004

In 2004 UConn joined the Big East conference as a football member starting an annual meeting with

. In the schools first meeting at the Carrier Dome in 2004, UConn quarterback

Dan Orlovsky Dan Orlovsky (born August 18, 1983) is an American American football, football analyst for ESPN and former professional football player. He played as a quarterback for 12 seasons in the National Football League (NFL), primarily as a backup. Or ...

completed a school- and Big East-record 39 passes for a school-record 445 yards, in a 42–30 loss. Syracuse would later vacate wins from 2004, and 2006 for academic misconduct. The 2012 matchup was the schools final meeting as Big East conference members, with Syracuse accepting an invite to the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...

and UConn joining the

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (AAC), also known as The American, is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States, featuring 13 full member universities and 6 affiliate member universities that compete in t ...

. The schools met again in 2016, and 2018 as non conference opponents. Recently the schools announced a four game series starting in 2022. In January 2023 it was announced that Syracuse has added UConn to its non conference schedule with a location to be determined at a later date.

Coaching connection

Former UConn head coach

Randy Edsall Randy Douglas Edsall (born August 27, 1958) is an American former American football, football coach who recently served as the head football coach for UConn Huskies football, Connecticut from 1999 to 2010 and again from 2017 until his abrupt reti ...

and former offensive coordinator Frank Giufre both played football at Syracuse. Paul Pasqualoni served as head coach at Syracuse from 1991–2004 compiling a 104–59–1 record with the Orange. Pasqualoni became the head coach at UConn in 2011, only lasting two seasons with the huskies with a record of 10–18. While at UConn Pasqualoni hired his former offensive coordinator at Syracuse George DeLeone to work in the same role from 2011–2012.

Results

Women's basketball

In 2016 the UConn and

women faced off in the NCAA national championship game. UConn won the game 82–51, finishing the season with a record of 38–0 while capturing their fourth straight national championship. The teams would meet again in the Bridgeport regional of the 2017 NCAA tournament with UConn winning 94–64.

Results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Syracuse-UConn rivalry College football rivalries in the United States College basketball rivalries in the United States Syracuse Orange football UConn Huskies football UConn Huskies men's basketball Syracuse Orange men's basketball Syracuse Orange women's basketball UConn Huskies women's basketball